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Brown beats Cameron in Google battle for 'most-searched'
10 Dec 2008In Google's annual "most searched for" popularity contest, Britain had an unlikely winner - beleaguered Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Google today revealed its list of the year's most searched terms, and in the UK, Gordon Brown and Facebook scored high.
Each year the search engine giant compiles its “zeitgeist” list, uncovering the most popular keywords among billions of Google queries.
Mr Brown was the most searched for politician by British Internet users - even beating President-elect Barack Obama.
The U.K. is still committed to Facebook procrastination - with the social networking site coming out on top as the most searched term of the year. In the UK there are 12.6 million active users on the site, which equates to about a third of the online population.
The biggest surprise of the year was the Large Hadron Collider, which captured the nation's imagination and swept into the top ten in the few months since its launch.
Oasis and Leonard Cohen were the most searched-for gig tickets of the year and cupcakes and meatballs topped the list of the fastest rising recipe search.
The financial crisis played a part in the results, with Icesave - the Icelandic bank whose collapse led to the British Government compensating thousands of customers who faced losing their savings - becoming the most searched financial term of the year.
Other popular websites dominate the list of top search terms, such as YouTube and eBay. The fastest rising term in UK searches was iPlayer, the BBC on-demand service, which in its first year was viewed 237 million times.
Globally, it seems defeated vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin finally has cause for celebration. The Governor of Alaska topped the the worldwide list of fastest rising queries. Her rival Barack Obama only managed sixth in the list of top climbers, just behind the late Heath Ledger, who played the Joker in the latest Batman remake.
The fastest rising search terms in the UK
iPlayer
Facebook
iPhone
Youtube
Yahoo Mail
Large Hadron Collider
Obama
Friv
Cam4
Jogos
The most searched terms in the UK
Facebook
BBC
YouTube
eBay
Games
News
Hotmail
Bebo
Yahoo
Jobs
Most searched politicians in the UK
Gordon Brown
David Cameron
Barack Obama
Tony Blair
Sarah Palin
John Mccain
George Osborne
Alistair Darling
Boris Johnson
Nicolas Sarkozy
Fastest rising recipe searches in the UK
cupcake
meatballs
rocky road
crumble topping
eaton mess
pork belly
rhubarb fool
lemon posset
honey comb
beer batter
Fastest rising finance-related searches in the UK
icesave
hot uk deals
natwest
hmrc
hbos
money saving expert
halifax
barclays
rbs
lloyds tsb
The hottest tickets of the year in the UK
Oasis
Leonard Cohen
AC/DC
The Ashes
Steve Coogan
SOS
Oliver
Gladiators
Tina Turner
Nickleback
Fastest rising global search terms
Sarah Palin
Beijing 2008
Facebook login
Tuenti
Heath ledger
Obama
Nasza klasa
Wer kennt wen
Euro 2008
Jonas brothers
Reader views (4)
People in Britain are thinking why they voted Crash Gordon in, especially now with the Crash!
- Jacqueline, Hampstead, London, 10/12/2008 19:04
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Well done Gordon. It's about time you were given the credit you rightfully deserve
- Keith Price, Luton, England, 10/12/2008 17:24
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It isn't that Gordon Brown is more popular; it's that everybody is trying to work out what the point of him actually is.
- Casper Slides, France at the moment, 10/12/2008 15:01
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what were peoples key word searches: Idiot, Mess, UK, Taxes Rises, Immigration
- Fly, london, 10/12/2008 14:15
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